Once the first content management systems were implemented (e.g., IBM CONTENT MANAGER) important documents typically got scanned and stored in a file format as a bit-mapped graphic. To this day, a relatively few file types (e.g., tiff, .jpg, .bmp) are used to store documents. These few file types are typically still readable (e.g., by a computer or other device). However, within the last decade more and more documents began to get stored directly in their native formats (e.g. 0.123, .sam, .xls, .opd, pdf, doc, docx, etc.). In the future, the range of different file formats in long-term storage will likely dramatically increase.
FIGS. 1 and 2 depict diagrams showing an example relationship related to conventional document support.
More particularly, as seen in FIG. 1, guidelines 101 typically delegated responsibility to user 103 (however, user 103 typically assumed that the guidelines 101 would provide for the solution 105 (the solution being the solution of how to access documents)). Further, guidelines 101 typically assumed that the solution 105 existed (however, the solution 105 may have only existed in the past). In addition, user 101 typically assumed that the solution 105 existed (however, the solution 105 may have only existed in the past). Thus, as seen in FIG. 2, when the solution no longer exists, the assumptions break down.
In addition, once a document is created it is typically only associated with a compatible program via a document extension (e.g. .doc for Microsoft Word, .odf for Open Document Format).